Kim Kardashian West may have just changed the way you shop

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Kim Kardashian West spoke at the Forbes Women’s Summit in June 2017

Kim Kardashian West tweeted last year that she had made $80m (£62m) from her video game app.

Her latest project, ScreenShop, could see her add some serious cash to her tech empire as it’s released worldwide.

The app, which lets social media users buy what they see in posts, is something Kardashian West says she has “never seen before”.

It works on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat by matching clothes you see on them to the exact items.

The reaction hasn’t been entirely positive, though, with some bloggers afraid that the app will stop them from earning commission from sales via their own social media platforms.

ScreenShop also offers you cheaper alternatives because items on celebrities are likely to be designer or have high prices.

The app partners with company Farfetch to provide the technology to show copies and similar items.

This feature is something Kardashian West approves of. “I obviously want to invest my time in projects that I really think people would want and things I haven’t seen before,” she tells Vogue.

“Shoppers are so much more visual and so much more creative than maybe in the past.

“I truly think if they see something worn a certain way, if you market it that way and merchandise it that way in the store, people will buy it.”

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image caption
Kim’s eye-catching outfits will be searchable online

Katie Baron, a fashion writer and global head of retail at Stylus Media Group, tells the BBC that Kardashian West’s app “means serious business in an era where instant digital gratification is pretty much expected”.

“It’s not quite as seamless as the initial headline may suggest,” she says. “You still need to take a screenshot, upload it, scour through the various options and then be redirected to a retail website to buy.

“But it’s possibly one of the best tools to date for translating the power of social media, driven by a youth sector who talk a largely visual language, into cold hard cash.

“Brands, of course, just have to hope that these social media fashion fans don’t always go for the budget option, or that there’s a way within the app to surface their products. Without that, many brands will be left in the cold.”

“Imitators like this only further confirm what we know well – consumers are inspired by influencers and they want to shop their looks,” she says.

Venz Box says what separates ScreenShop from LIKEtoKNOW.it is that her company pays bloggers commission, which Kardashian West is not set to do.

Venz Box’s app compensates bloggers based on how many items they help sell and how much they cost.

“I created rewardStyle in 2011 as a solution to monetise my fashion blog and today, rewardStyle provides monetisation to 20,000 hand-picked influencers through a global technology platform,” she says.

Katie Baron acknowledges the appeal of apps like LIKEtoKNOW.it, but likes the fact ScreenShop turns any image into a “shoppable inspiration” rather than just being the photos from an “elite band of influencer bloggers”.

“This could effectively democratise the system once again, which is fantastic, with so many bloggers having transitioned from a point of genuine excitement to little more than new generation advertising space,” she says.